Newly appointed San Bernardino County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux doesn’t begin his new job until Feb. 13, but the Ontario City Manager is already gearing up for some tough challenges.

Hailed for his expertise in land use planning and fiscal management, Deveraux, who served as Fontana’s city manager in the 1990s, took time Wednesday to answer a few questions about his plans to help the county cultivate relationships with cities and thwart its long history of corruption and scandal.

QUESTION: You are coming in at a time of yet another scandal and criminal investigation in which members of the Board of Supervisors and members of their staffs have been questioned by both the Grand Jury and District Attorney investigators. What is your plan to get your arms around this issue and what is your philosophy on managing scandal?

Answer: I don’t have a philosophy on managing scandal, other than to try to avoid it. I think that it’s important to establish systems and a culture where impropriety and illegality is protected against. The people of this county, the employees of the county, deserve to work in a stigma-free environment, and I hope that everyone understands that wrongdoing by any employee or any official ends up reflecting on the county as a whole and unfortunately every employee, so we all have to take responsibility for looking out for wrongdoing, and we have to set up systems that try to prevent that.

Q: Throughout the 1990s, when all these scandals were brewing and publicized, was there anything that you observed that you look back on today and say, “Here’s what they did wrong and here’s what they should have done?”

A: Part of what I noticed over time is that ultimately, what it comes down to, is no matter what kind of system you set up, if someone is willing to be corrupt they will find a way to be corrupt. I noticed this back during the Hlawek era and the trash scandal with Jim Walsh. I was in Fontana during that period. We were working with them on the landfill there and on the impact fee and all that. They never tried to offer me money because they knew better. What I have noticed is if you hold yourself out and you’re clear about who you are and what your ethics are, they don’t approach the people who are clear about their ethics. So, really, it comes down to personal integrity.

Q: One of the things the board mentioned during your appointment was their faith in your ability to work with the 24 cities in the county in cultivating relationships. Can you elaborate more on that?

A: Though the county provides services in every city, those services aren’t part of the city’s core responsibilities. Welfare services, health care services and judicial services aren’t part of the city’s core responsibilities, so there’s very little overlap, unless the county and the cities are working together on overarching goals like job creation and economic development. I think the board firmly believes that there needs to be more focus on those larger goals.

Q: What do you think you can bring to the county that Mark Uffer, Wally Hill, John Michaelson and William Randolph couldn’t in the last 10 years?

A: I don’t know that I can bring anymore that they brought, but every manager I have ever met operates somewhat differently. We all have our own individual styles. I’m a people person, and that’s not to say they weren’t, so I’m not commenting on their styles, I can only tell you who I am. I am a relationship-based manager, and I hope to develop the trust of the board and of the employees. The other thing I try to do is to bring clarity, to be as clear as possible and to urge the board to be as clear as possible about what their vision is. A CAO, in my mind, is really there to facilitate communication and provide coordination and support for both the board and the employees.

Joe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for The Sun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter and went on to cover a variety of beats including courts and the cities of Colton, Highland and Grand Terrace. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Nelson is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. In 2014, he completed a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law School program.

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